Chased for debt after completing DAS Debt Payment Programme

loz2023

Hi all,

First time poster here but I'll keep it brief.  I entered into a Debt Payment Programme (DPP) under the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) in 2017.  This was managed by StepChange and I completed it in April of this year.  The terms of the DPP are that the creditors cover the statutory charge for the administration of the programme, which means that once it's complete, any outstanding balances are no longer due and should be cleared.

StepChange sent out letters to all of my creditors advising that the programme was completed, and that I could no longer be held liable for any further payments towards the debt.  The biggest debt I had was with HSBC for a credit card, and they have been chasing me for an outstanding balance of around £700 since April.  I've spoken to them on several occasions to advise them the DPP is complete and this remaining balance should be cleared, however they are still chasing me.  I spoke with StepChange and all they said they could do was send the letter on again, however this hasn't seemed to work.  They haven't offered any other advice on how to deal with this.

When dealing with all of my other creditors, they have either cleared any outstanding balances automatically, or after I contacted them to advise that the DPP was complete.  HSBC are the only creditor who are continuously chasing me.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do next as I feel I'm hitting my head off of a brick wall with HSBC and StepChange.  Any advice would be appreciated.

sourcrates

Yes, occasionally the message fails to get through, and it can feel like your banking your head against a brick wall.

You need to register an official written complaint with HSBC, having their complaints team involved should remedy the situation.
Don`t worry, no matter what HSBC says, you bear no liability whatsoever for the debt they are chasing, it sounds like the message is not getting through to the right department.

Send the complaint and let the complaints process complete, it may take a few weeks, and to hasten the response, include evidence of your DAS and that it completed, a copy of the stepchange letter should suffice, if their final response fails to address this matter, then you escalate it to the FOS to deal with, and also ask for compensation for having to bring this matter to their attention in the first place.